Hackathons and similar time-bounded events have become a popular form of collaboration in various domains. Current research on hackathons has mostly studied them as in-person events and pointed towards them being radically co-located as the main reason for their popularity and success. The global pandemic of 2020-2021 has led to a proliferation of online hackathons, while we do not yet know whether online and in-person formats are perceived differently by the participants.

To compare the two and explore their similarities and differences, we conducted a mixed-methods study following a sequential explanatory design. We first surveyed a total of 940 participants from seven in-person and eight online hackathons in recent years, then interviewed six participants and six volunteer mentors from a recent online hackathon.

To our surprise, we found that participant satisfaction towards online hackathons was not lower than in-person hackathons. We further found that the perceived quality of participation is significantly correlated with participant satisfactio, which corroborates previous studies. This effect is emphasized for satisfaction with process in the case of in-person events. In addition, we found a connection between participant satisfaction and networking being one of their motivations to participate in the event. Finally, we discussed the pros and cons of the online format suggested by the interview subjects. Our findings contribute to better understanding participants' perceptions of online hackathons and similar forms of online collaboration.

58 pages

Thesis Committee:
James D. Herbsleb (Chair)
Bogdan Vasilescu

Srinivasan Seshan, Head, Computer Science Department
Martial Hebert, Dean, School of Computer Science

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